


To the beat of the underground heart

by snowynight



Category: Unknown Armies
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dark, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash February, Horror, Kid Fic, Mad Scientists, Magic, Road Trips, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-02
Updated: 2013-02-02
Packaged: 2017-11-27 22:08:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/667024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What a parent's road trip survival guide doesn't tell you or 'How to maintain a highly effective family, with testimony from a werewolf and a mad scientist (while on the run from everything)'</p>
            </blockquote>





	To the beat of the underground heart

He shot the gun station owner, grabbing all the money into his bag, hands shaking out of adrenaline and far. It was no deal, he told himself, just an old guy who was too thrifty to part with his money. Then he heard a car parking by and saw that a young woman walked out of the car. Damn it, he thought. Well, he still had bullets in his gun. Then he waited and the door was open.  
  
Th last thing he didn't get to see was a pair of eyes of a wolf.    
  
Connor returned to her human form. She frowned because she got blood on herself. Killing was always messy, but she'd like to prevent it. Unfortunately the demon sealed inside her had other opinions about it. Well, let the bygone be bygone. She carefully took away all the money without leaving her fingerprints.  Then she left the station and found Ira waiting by the car, trying to soothe Dora's angry crying. The baby knew it was about her meal time, and she demanded it now.  
  
Connor took the baby from Ira 's hands and they headed to the restroom of the station. Ira prepared the bottle while Connor sang to Dora, who ignored her effort, but immediately cooperated with them when she hungrily drunk the milk.  After that they had her diaper changed, which was another struggle as Dora started to cry predictably whenever she needed to had hers changed. Then they returned to their car. Ira as usual tried to take out a tablet computer that was built with some mirrors and duct tapes, which she said had several educational apps installed to let Dora played with, but Connor once again stopped her and gently said that, "It 's not suitable for a baby. It'll numb her fingers."  
  
"All right. All right, you Luddite," Ira said, but she put the computer back so Connor counted as a win. Soon they noticed that Dora was about to close her eyes so Connor started the car again, making the best of the chance to drive away from the site.  Connor didn't want to attract the wrong attention. They couldn't afford it.  
  
"What're you working now?" Connor asked.  
  
"I'm formulating a refutation to this paper on bigbang theory. It was totally wrong and the proof absurd. The journal editors must be blind to let it be posted. Disgraceful, so I must charge in," Ira said, and she continued to explain her superb theory. No matter how right it was, Connor knew that it wasn't important as long as Ira was continuously working on new inventions and improving current theories continuously. It was basically what Ira lived on. It let others to view Ira as weird and obsessive, but Connor wasn't what people would think of as normal either.          
  
Sometimes Connor reflected on her life and found that the fate was fickle. Several months ago she was only an ordinary English major college student unaware of the weird and dark world out there. Then one night she was kidnapped, dragged and being kicked into an occult ritual and had a demon sealed inside her, turning her into a werewolf. She could still sense the burning flame, the sound of cruel laugh and the mind-shearing pain. She still couldn't quite remember what'd happen later, only that she was covered with blood, with a voice whispering inside her mind, "Kill, kill, kill." At least she was safely away from those people. She returned home, trying to to go back to normal but she found that she couldn't. She couldn't sleep well, with her dream occupied with the terror of the night. She could still smell the blood on her even though she scrubbed it hard enough that her skin reddened. The memory invaded  her waking life. The smell was too strong, the light too bright. Soon she dropped out of college and was filled with anger about the people ruining her life.  She swore that she'd keep people safe from things like that, and started her road trip with her old reliable car.  
  
Then she met Ira.  
  
Connor was then having a cup of coffee which tasted like bland cardboard to her in a coffee shop when a girl who was practically dressed in rainbow-coloured cloth strips sat before her, with eyes that reminded her of an alert and wild stray cat. They introduced each other, starting to talk. She found that Ira was smart, talking about a lot of science way beyond her comprehension, a bit mad probably, but fun, and she was homeless for now. "An explosion," Ira said and didn't elaborate. They walked out of the coffee shop together.  Then things happened.  
  
A bleeding woman with a baby in her arms, stumbled to get the baby to Ira. More gun shot, people in white ran after them. and Connor pulled Ira into her car, driving away without paying second thought to the situation. After Connor was quite sure she got rid of the pursuers, the reality sunk into Connor. What should she do with the baby?     
  
Connor would prefer to avoid the police, and Ira seemed to have the same reluctance, but a baby --- anyway the point was moot because when they tried to hand over the baby to police, the people in white appeared and they had to ran for their lives. After that Ira and the baby, whom they named Dora became a fixture to Connor's life.  
  
Connor had never needed to take care of a baby before, and taking care of Dora was educational and eye-opening. At first Dora just cried and cried, refusing to stop all night. Connor felt frustrated and helpless about it, but the warrior inside her was clearly too stubborn to give up on Dora, so she continued to struggle with her, with the help of Ira.  
  
Ira was weird, twisted and lovely. She was always busy with her hands, expressive when  she was talking about some far-fetched theory, like men were all once decedents of mermaids, using her screwdriver to work on new and unusual invention every week, sometimes with disastrous result. She also was a bit casual with what and how her invention would affect the world. But she also was the one to sing songs to Dora, stayed by Connor's side when she woke up from her nightmare, and always had a contagious cheerful attitude about life. Soon Connor couldn't imagine a life without Ira and Dora. They were her pack, and she would protect them at all cost.  
  
From the mirror, Connor could see that Ira was biting her pen before drawing probably a blueprint of ray gun, and Dora slept so quietly that she looked as if she were an angel. She smiled and then got on with her journey.    
  
Finally they stopped at a town to replenish their supplies and took a well deserved rest. It was at night when they checked into a motel, with a receptionist half burying her head in a manga checking them in.  They put the baby into a strong special pram Ira built and they carried around, took a shower and went to bed. They were both tired and just fumbled and kissed each other, gradually falling into sleep.    
   
The next morning they had their breakfast and walked out of the motel, only to find that they were sinking in inches of deep snow. Connor frowned. It was mid-June, in Texas. Not exactly the right time for snowing. Something was wrong. She noticed Ira shivering and led her back to the motel. But sh could see that the snow didn't melt at all after a long time.  The snow made the road dangerous and they had to stay at the town.  
  
Connor talked with the receptionist, who looked at her with curiosity and asked, "Why 're you here for? I know. You must want to go to the Mason Mansion. Why does everyone want to go to the Mansion?"  
  
"Could you tell me about the Mansion?"  
  
"Well, it's big, old and ugly, but more importantly it was haunted. A poet who..."  she kept her voice low, "Dabbled with the demons. When she did, no one wanted the house because it was haunted. Some people see shadows roaming the windows. Some heard people crying. Then it attracted a lot of tourists. It's the only exciting place in the town."  
  
Connor considered it. Would the snow storm and the haunted house be connected to evil cultists? She felt the rage inside her rising and the demon whispered to her, tempting her to lash out at whoever was in her way. She suppressed it, but from the receptionist's wide open eyes with fear,  she wasn't entirely successful with it.  
  
Connor told Ira about it, and left the motel to checked up the house from afar, asking for directions. It was cold and the sharp wind cut her face, leaving wind burn. The snow ground was wet and hard. Connor put her collar closer and half wanted that she was in her wolf form, as they don't have heavy cloths for the weather. The house was clearly worn and decayed, with half of it already collapsed. When she tried the door though, it was locked and that looked sturdy. She thought of picking the lock when she hard sounds of boots approaching.  She turned and saw that it was a female police officer, who greeted her, "Another occult-hippie tourist, right? Nothing interesting to see here."  
  
Connor played along and knew that just as the receptionist said, the house attracted a lot of occult groups over years,  and were practically a nuisance according to the officer. "Nothing good came out of it," she said and warned Conner away from it. Connor nodded and returned to the motel, already thinking to go here again later.    
  
Connor told Ira about that in their room, and Ira said, "I have done some research about this town from the Internet. There's a rumour that this town will disappear for a month every year. Interesting"  
  
"Then it'll be dangerous for you two to stay any longer. Perhaps you should leave first with Dora, and I'll catch up with you later."  
  
"No, we're in it together. Besides, it's a good chance to put my weapon against spirits in field test."  
  
Connor tried to argue with Ira, but she was out-stubborned by Ira, and they decided to investigate it after they put Dora to the pram to let her sleep.  When they managed to go for the house, it was very late at night, and Connor held Ira's left hand to keep her from missing a step. Ira's hands were cold, so Connor rubbed it and blew warm air to them, to keep her warm. She looked up and saw Ira blushing a bit and smiled back. Then Ira picked the lock to let them get into the house.  
  
They were immediately attacked with onion smoke and strong flashing light, which gave Connor a headache. She failed to resist it, but Ira held her hand and led her into the merciful darkness ahead of them. She paused as she could hear crackling sounds from below and told Ira about it, so they decided to went down to the basement. When they walked down the stairs, the wood bent because of their weight and complained loudly. When they got to the basement, the cracking sound got louder but Connor didn't smelt anything. Then she switched on her flashlight and saw a big black dog pouncing at Ira, so she ran to shield Ira from the dog. She felt teeth brushing her skin and then nothing. She looked up and saw that the dog disappeared.  Ira checked over her and found no wounds. An illusion? Or something else? It was the time Connor heard howling and her hair stood, her territorial instinct ignited. She transformed into a wolf and then charged at the source of the sound, fighting, tearing at the other. When it quieted down, she found that it was a dog doll.  
  
"Magic," Connor realized, picked up the flashlight and ran to Ira's side, only to find that she was throwing thing at a pin-up poster. Connor returned to her human form, shot a knife at the poster and held Ira in her arms, comforting her until she calmed down.  
  
When they wanted to leave the basement, they found that they were in a maze constructed with biting vines who tried to chomp on them. Giant parrots made a creepy laughing sound  and flew down at them. They ran while there seemed to be no end to the maze. When they reached a blocked end, Ira took out a string gun from her white coat and shot a rope out of it. "Follow it!" Ira said. It was far from easy and there were wounds on them, but they finally got out of the basement.  
  
They left the basement and went up the stairs, now more determined to get the one behind all these. Ira took out something like a combination of a screwdriver and a gun and put it in her hand. When they returned to the ground floor, they felt strong wind inside the house despite all the windows and doors being closed. It was so strong that Connor found it hard to walk against the wind. Ira held onto her and when they were discussing whether to go up or explore this floor further, they heard an inhuman laugh from up there so they followed it.  
  
When they reached the room the sound it came from they found that suddenly everything looked giant relative to them. The chairs looked like a cliff, the table a mountain. The room a world of its own. Then Connor heard the sound of footsteps loud enough that it hurt Connor's ear and saw a big shoe moving toward them, nearly stomping on them. They got out of the way barely in time but the show seemed determined to crush them in a step.  
  
"Think!" Connor told herself. This must be an illusion and she transformed into a wolf and found that everything looked normal again and she was facing a woman who smelt of dust and chemicals. She was older than them, with a pair of glasses on her thick nose and stared at them, but Connor could smell annoyance mixed with a tint of fear from her.  
  
"Surrender," Ira said. "You're no match with us."  
  
"Never!" the woman said, and when Connor was about to pounce on her, the woman took out a gun and did some cinematic trick with it. Only Connor's reflex prevent her from being shot while protecting Ira. Connor got worried inside. She must find a quick solution. Wait a minute, will it be... There was no time to lose. She must gamble both Ira's and her life to destroy this woman, so as to save themselves.  
  
When Connor pounced, she could see the realization and shock in the woman's eyes. She bit the woman's neck and it bled. Connor tried not to remember the night with blood on her body and finished the job. Then she stepped away and transformed back into a human. She tried to look away from the woman's body and said to Ira, "Sorry, are you scared?"  
  
"Are you kidding? I'm worried to death that you'd be killed. Thanks whatever that protected you. By the way, how do you do that?"     
  
"I figure that she was gambling to achieve her shooting streak, but this goes both way."  
  
"It's smart of you. Probability manipulation. It's interesting," Ira said. Connor knew that Ira was starting to devote her mind to theorizing at the expense of anything else, but it wasn't the right time to do that, so she told Ira gently to move. Besides, she disliked the smell of blood.  
  
After that, they searched the house extensively. With what they found from the notes in the computer and newspaper clippings, they gathered that they have just faced a mage whose power came from moving picture. To support her expenditure, the mage had taken to luring unsuspected people to this mansion to scare and kill them off, making horror films and selling to rich people who has special interest in this. It seemed to be a lucrative trade. Too bad she got Connor and Ira involved. They removed any trace that could prove their existence here, and collected everything useful and expensive from here.  A dad person wouldn't need these any more any way, so Connor never felt guilty about this.      
  
When they finally returned to the hostel room, the adrenaline still filled Connor's blood, yearning for further action and she grappled Ira into her arms to kiss her. Ira kissed back, and the kiss was as strong as a glass of tequila. They struggled to get each other out of their cloths and became mostly naked when they stumbled on the bed.  Connor kissed down Ira's body, biting lightly to mark her territory, and Ira moaned, her hands on Connor too. They made love like a war, and they fought with all their might and brain. They attacked, countered, and finally pushed each other to climax. Then Connor rolled off Ira's body,  panting. She could smell sex and herself on Ira, and felt great about it. They then fall into sleep, holding each other in each other's arms.  
  
When they woke up in the morning, Connor fed and replaced Dora's diaper, and then had breakfast with Ira down in the lobby. They walked out and saw that the snow had melt sometimes during the previous night. The summer came back with full vengeance, the dry hot wind brushed by and Connor could feel herself sweating. They checked out from the motel, carrying Dora to their car, and continued with their journey. Connor was on the back seat this time, and smiled at Dora. She was looking forward to the next day. The sun shone on them.


End file.
